Sharing Good Practice
LEARNLIVEUAE BY: MARK ANDERSON AND OLLY LEWIS
T
he last five years have seen an explosion of educators in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) region taking control of their own Continuing Professional Development (CPD). From Twitter chats to educator-led events such as the ResearchEd Dubai event, organised by Dubai College, teachers have been doing it for themselves, and it has promoted a massive shift in the way that schools interact, engage and support each other. There’s no getting away from the fierce competition between schools to attract students to the many amazing halls of learning in the UAE. The shift we have seen however towards more grass-roots CPD, led by teachers, for teachers, has brought schools that previously wouldn’t work together, together, for the betterment of all students in the region, regardless of the school they attend. This has been a fantastic thing to behold and something which the education sector should be rightly proud to have achieved, and it has been brought about by passionate educators of which the region has in aplomb. In that vein, LearnLiveUAE, was started by a leading influencer in the region, Assistant Headteacher
28
Term 1 Sep - Dec 2020
and GESS award-winning Olly Lewis, of The British School Abu Dhabi (BISAD), and one of the most influential educators on social media, Mark Anderson to provide a weekly live show, offering superb, free, professional learning opportunities in a wide variety of guises. Recognised by many now as one of the essential weekly live education focussed shows in the Middle East, LearnLiveUAE features educators and school leaders in each of its shows, from schools and educational establishments from across the MENA region and beyond. Since its inception in early 2020, Olly and Mark have welcomed more than twenty different guests to the show, with the eleven episodes in Season One, being viewed by thousands of educators from around the world. The aim of the show has always been to provide professional learning and sharing opportunities for educators in the region, in a way that is accessible, relevant, timely and responsive to the needs of people working in the education space. Therefore, episodes can be viewed back via specific playlists
Class Time
Mark Anderson
on our YouTube channel (bit.ly/ learnliveuae) and starting from Season 2 we will be simulcasting (broadcasting at the same time) to both YouTube and Twitter. To view episodes on Twitter, please tune into Mark’s Twitter account which can be found at https://twitter.com/ ICTEvangelist.